Kj has gotten 19 local businessmen to pledge $1 million each towards local ownership. Simple math equates that to $19 million. Long way off. Listening to this makes me feel really bad for Sacramento. People are totally passionate about the kings. Sucks that the nba is run like this. But, we were passionate too here in Seattle. Such is life in the nba.

One thing thy was interesting was that kj said that he thought if they had a local ownership group that could just come close to matching the Seattle offer that the kings would be forced to stay... Seems kind of delusional... But what do I know.

bennith13 wrote:Kj has gotten 19 local businessmen to pledge $1 million each towards local ownership. Simple math equates that to $19 million. Long way off. Listening to this makes me feel really bad for Sacramento. People are totally passionate about the kings. Sucks that the nba is run like this. But, we were passionate too here in Seattle. Such is life in the nba.

One thing thy was interesting was that kj said that he thought if they had a local ownership group that could just come close to matching the Seattle offer that the kings would be forced to stay... Seems kind of delusional... But what do I know.

As a Sonics fan I was a little concerned about this presser today but not after seeing it. It sounds like KJ is stalling, there were pledges and that he's working on the big investors but nothing else really. Nothing that we didn't know already. It was the same 5 years ago, the whites knights were there in Seattle 5 years ago but never appeared.

WhamBamSlamm wrote:Already has 19 guys part of a group to match and/or surpass the Seattle offer...

Deal with it

Does anyone outside of Seattle and Sac really care about this? I don't think anyone would be too sore over the outcome of this, whatever it may be.

I care a bit, mostly because I think California, big as it is, needs more teams, not fewer. The ideal solution to the Seattle problem would've been the Seattle investment group using some dirty tricks to bankrupt Clay Bennett, then buying back the Thunder and moving them home.

I feel bad for Kings fans, and even worse for the ones who are buying the false hope Kevin Johnson is shoveling out. This idea that David Stern is suddenly going to grow a conscience out of thin air and force the Maloofs to sell locally because "it's the right thing to do", is a joke. That's not going to happen, especially when it's well known that he's desperate to get a team back in Seattle. What's also a joke is that Stern or the BOG is going to delay the sale to Seattle to give Kevin Johnson enough time to find this mythical "whale" who'll buy the Kings to keep them in Sac. If that buyer was out there, he'd have come out already.

All these pledges, be it from the fans with the #HereWeBuy campaign or local business owners with their 1 million dollar mini-investments, are just doing nothing but giving the poor beat up Kings fans false hope for what the inevitable end of this story is going to be. Harsh reality, just as it was when Clay Bennett bold-face-lied to the people of Seattle, but it is what it is.

Frank Mulely wrote:why didn't he have this coalition before the Seattle group appeared?

I want the Kings in Sacto but seems like this has been mishandled by whatever people with money want to keep 'em there.

Because in all of 2011 the Maloofs told KJ and everyone in Sacramento that the team is not for sale and turned down offers to keep the team in Sacramento.

Because in all of 2012 the Maloofs told KJ and everyone in Sacramento that the team is not for sale and turned down offers to keep the team in Sacramento.

Because all of a sudden the Maloofs sold the team. When the news started coming out about the Kings being sold to Hansen's group, the minority owners were not even notified of the King's dealings. Don't you think the other 35% of the owners should at least be given the courtesy of letting them know that you're thinking about selling?

deNIEd wrote:Because all of a sudden the Maloofs sold the team. When the news started coming out about the Kings being sold to Hansen's group, the minority owners were not even notified of the King's dealings. Don't you think the other 35% of the owners should at least be given the courtesy of letting them know that you're thinking about selling?

They're called minority owners for a reason. They can have a say and their concerns aired, but the final decision always lies with whoever the majority owners are. In this case, that's soon to be the Hansen/Balmer group.

Same way with investing in a huge corporation. You may own a couple shares of Apple, but you don't get to tell Tim Cook what he does or doesn't put into the next iPhone or where he gets to move the Apple HQ.

You guys have no idea what is even coming. He's not going to announce everyone at once, give him time. It's only been 3 days since the Maloofs put the team for sale. He isn't going to show all of his cards at once, nor would he have a press conference just to say "hey we only have $19 million, sorry guys, we tried". Give it a rest and see what happens, there's 2 months to go.

DanTown8587 wrote:This thread is sad. Mainly because the NBA ownership isn't run where if KJ got a group of guys together that the league would even approve them.

Exactly. The NBA isn't some fly-by-night organization where if you get a group of guys with money together and say "OK, here's our money, give us a team!" You have to have plans in place. They still have no solid plan to fix the arena situation, they have ideas and proposals, but nothing set in stone like Seattle has. They've got all their ducks in a row and the next 5 years are all mapped out. Even if by some odd chance KJ rounded up enough people to match the Seattle offer, they still need to have a set in stone plan to get the Kings in a updated arena and make them profitable. Seattle has those plans set up, KJ simply doesn't and won't have those plans set up in time to keep them there. This type of thing takes years to plan, the Balmer/Hansen group has already put in the time to plan all that out.